About the Deferred Final Exam

STA302f20 Deferred Final Exam Information

There are seven questions, some with parts a, b, c, and so on. The exam is supposed to be comprehensive, but there are not any questions on Assignment 12.

Timing and Format

The deferred final exam will be on Thursday February 18th from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m., Toronto time. Crowdmark will send you the link at 9 a.m.. You will get a extra ten minutes at the end for uploading and last-minute emergencies, so the deadline will be 12:10 p.m.. The deferred exam will be like a big long quiz. You have seen it before.

Crowdmark

Like the quizzes, the deferred exam will be on Crowdmark. I added myself to the class list, gave myself a quiz, and tried to make Crowdmark lose my work. I learned two things.

Assume you're connected to Crowdmark using just one device (computer, tablet or phone). Once you've dragged an image file to Crowdmark, it's vulnerable until you submit. If you re-load the page, close the window, quit the application or have a power failure, it's gone. However, once you click Submit for evaluation, it's saved on the Crowdmark website and it's safe. You can leave the page and come back, and it's still there. To submit more material, just click Edit and resubmit at the top of the page. Submitting on Crowdmark seems to function like saving in a text editor or word processing program. I recommend uploading the answer to each question as you finish it, and re-submitting immediately each time.
It is possible to connect to Crowdmark using two devices at the same time, but it's very dangerous. Work that has been submitted can still disappear. It might be okay as long as the two devices are never in "Edit and resubmit" mode at the same time, but I wouldn't trust that. If you need to use two different devices on the deferred exam (and there could be good reason), click on Submit for evaluation and then leave Crowdmark with device A before getting on with device B.

During the deferred exam

I will be online during the deferred exam. Vishakh will not. I will be monitoring two locations.

Piazza at https://piazza.com/utoronto.ca/fall2020/sta302: If you have questions about the deferred exam while the deferred exam is in progress, post them here. I can typeset my answers if necessary, and everyone can see them. For example, someone might ask something like "On question 3, are we assuming that ε_i is normal?" I might answer "No." Any corrections of typos and so on during the deferred exam will be posted on Piazza, so you should probably have Piazza open at all times during the deferred exam.
- It is very important that you not post your answer or any part of your answer on Piazza, asking something like "Is this right?"
- It's also very important that you not answer other students' questions on Piazza during the deferred exam. Please leave that to me.
Zoom lecture meeting at https://utoronto.zoom.us/j/97147308967 (Zoom ID 971 4730 8967) This is for technical problems during the deferred exam. Please don't ask clarifying questions about the deferred exam here. Put them on Piazza so others can see the answers. Again, Zoom is the place where we will deal with technical issues. Do not send me email with your answers as attachments unless I specifically ask you to do so.

For everybody, if you have technical problems during the deferred exam and you are unable to reach me via Zoom, document it! A photo of your screen showing the time of day could be very valuable. In this case, you may also send email.

Coverage

What you are supposed to be able to do is indicated by the assignments. The text and lecture overheads are intended to help you understand how to answer questions like the ones in the assignments. If you are wondering whether you're responsible for something, look in the assignments. If it's asked, you're responsible for it. If it's not asked, then you may safely disregard it. This applies to concepts and methods of course, not the exact wording of the questions.

The deferred exam is comprehensive, except that Assignments 1 and 2 are mostly review. Except for Question 7 of Assignment 2, you can ignore Assignments 1 and 2. This material is used throughout the course and you are expected to know it, but it will not be asked directly.

There will be no R on the deferred exam.

How to prepare

This course is all about the homework. The best way to prepare is to be sure you are able to do all the homework problems. So look them over. If you know how to do something, fine. If you're unsure, re-do the problem and then check the solution.

Past Final Exams

If you want more practice, or just want to verify that my final exam questions are like the quiz and homework questions, here are the final exams from the last three times I taught the course. On the 2016 and 2017 exams, b is the vector of least squares estimates of β, and e is the vector of residuals. Also, in 2016 and 2017, matrices other than column vectors were not in boldface type.

You should realize that since these exams were in person, I did not hesitate to ask questions that were identical to homework. It's very hard to remember this stuff if you don't understand it. In addition, I frequently use old exams as a source of homework problems, so maybe what looks like it's straight from homework was new at the time.

Formula Sheet

There is a formula sheet for the exam; it is the same as the one for the regular exam. Be familiar with it, so you know where to find things. In proofs and derivations, you may use anything on the formula sheet unless you are directly asked to prove it. Facts like
Cov(X,Y) = E(XY)−E(X)E(Y) are not on the formula sheet, but they are assumed and do not require proof. Suggestions about additional material for the formula sheet are welcome.

Piazza

If you have questions that are not answered on this page, please ask them on Piazza: https://piazza.com/utoronto.ca/fall2020/sta302. I will try to provide answers on Piazza, and also put the information on this page.

Rules

Because the deferred exam is online, we need to be especially clear about the rules. Most of them are predictable, but the last one is unusual, and very important. It basically says that you are not allowed to take the deferred exam using the same wireless network as your friends, unless you have prior permission. Please read the details. Here are the rules.

Once you have opened the deferred exam on Crowdmark, you may NOT petition to re-write it.
All petitions for further deferring or re-writing the deferred exam go to the registrar's office.
The deferred exam is open book and open notes.
You may use the textbooks from this class: Linear models in statistics by A. C. Renscher and B. G. Schaalje. and Linear models with R by J. Faraway. Those are the only books you may use.
You may use anything posted on the STA302 2020 course website, including lecture slides and solutions to the homework problems.
You may use any handwritten notes you took in lecture. Keep them, just in case you have to prove that this is the source of one of your answers.
You may not use material from other classes unless you have the information in your head. This especially means no class notes, no lecture slides, and no solutions to homework problems. So for example, if I happen to ask something that appeared in a STA314 lecture and two students copy the same solution from their lecture notes, they both will be charged with an academic offence.
You may not visit any website other than our course website in search of answers to the deferred exam questions. This includes Wikipedia. The Chegg website is particularly dangerous. They share information with U of T if we ask them in the right way, and I will. If you visit the Chegg website during the deferred exam, you will be charged with an academic offence. You may think you are anonymous, but you probably are not.
During the deferred exam, you may not discuss the deferred exam with anyone, either in person, online or by phone. The exception is that you may ask clarifying questions about the deferred exam on Piazza. For example, you might ask something like "On question 6, are we assuming that ε_i is normal?" I might answer "No." I will be monitoring Piazza during the deferred exam.
It is very important that you not post your answer or any part of your answer on Piazza, asking something like "Is this right?" If you do, other students could see it and you could be charged with an academic offence.
It's also very important that you not answer other students' questions on Piazza during the deferred exam. Please leave that to me.
Students taking the deferred exam may not share devices (computers, phones, tablets, etc.). Sharing hard drives or online storage such as iCloud is also prohibited. If something would allow you to accidentally see another student's answer, it's not permitted.
Here's the big one. No two students may use the same network (typically a wireless network with a single wireless modem) to take the deferred exam, unless it is U of T network or I have given written permission in advance. The reason is to make it harder for students to sit in the same room and share answers during the deferred exam. Here is some discussion.
- Crowdmark makes it possible to detect who is on the same network.
- Suppose you have one or more roommates who are also in the class, and who are also taking the deferred exam. Then you have to decide who gets to take the deferred exam at home, and who has to go somewhere else. UTM has a computer lab specifically designated for physically distanced use during the deferred exam period.
- Suppose you don't have internet access at home, so you need to use the internet of your friend who is in the class and also taking the deferred exam. No you don't. Find somebody else, or go to campus.
- Suppose you are roommates, enrolled in STA302, but too far away to come in and take the deferred exam on campus. Also, there is nobody you can safely visit who has internet. Okay, this is pretty unlikely but I guess it's possible. Send me email about it.
- If I do give permission for two students to use the same network, they will need to take the deferred exam in separate rooms. They will need to stay in a Zoom meeting with me throughout the entire time of the deferred exam, with video on. They will need to prove there is no one else in the room, probably by picking up the device and panning around the room. If you don't like this much, I agree. We live in strange times.
- If after all this you do decide to ask for permission to take the deferred exam on the same network, I will need a separate email from each student in the group. The emails need to be detailed, explaining why you really need to do this and why there is no other way. Each email must name all the other students in the group and give their U of T email addresses.
- There is a deadline. I must receive the requests from everyone involved by midnight Feb. 15th, Toronto time. If it's late, I will not respond.